The Companion Games
by Blue Mistfall
Summary: <html><head></head>The Doctor's companions find themselves in a very odd place, and it doesn't seem to be Earth. Along the way, they learn that they became the players of a very peculiar game, which will require the talents of all of them - if they manage to come together, because it's not too easy to do...</html>
1. The Scots

Humans do not live here. That was the first - and only - certain thing about the area surrounding Amy Pond. But she wasn't too sure if it was a "planet" or any place on Earth. The sky was bright blue and without a cloud, for the start.

Amy sat up and turned her head to see the surroundings. She was sitting on warm ground - right here completely bare, without a stem of grass - under the wide branches of trees unknown to her, most probably jungle type of them, but not palm trees. Judging by the smell, there should be a river nearby, the only water in the forest...

"Amelia Jessica Pond. Prepared for the game".

A nasty buzzing voice sounded in Amy's head.

"Game?" she asked aloud and hissed with pain – all of a sudden there was a feeling as if a lump of hot wax touched her left shoulder. Having rolled the sleeve of her checkered red-and-blue shirt up, she saw a mark on it. Or no, it was like a scar or another damage of half-natural, half-artificial origin – a round seal with a pattern: prints of two tiny hands and a finger-print under them.

Amy stood up, slowly twirling. Now she was sure that she was not on Earth – it doesn't have architecture like this: just behind the trees there was a building in the style of Asher's lithographs. Or no, it was kind of an impossible castle, abandoned years ago: stairs and stairs in all directions, covered with ivy or some other plant like it.

* * *

><p>"James Robert McCrimmon. Prepared for the game".<p>

Jamie bounced up, having grabbed his dagger. No one was around.

"Show yourself!" he yelped. No reply. A second ago he had been escaping a flock of alien bats, and now he found himself on the top of a tower. Or no. It was some wrong tower. Though Jamie wasn't going to fall from it, his hair and clothing didn't hang down, the fact remained the fact – it appeared to be upside down. The ground was over his head, while the sky was at the bottom.

Gra-vi-ty, Jamie recalled. This tower had its own kind of gravity. And he'd better find a way out of there… This wasn't the easiest task. As soon as Jamie looked down from the tower, he realized it: the castle, the part of which this tower was, consisted of stairs and walls combined in the most quirky ways, so it was more of a labyrinth. But sitting there wouldn't do, so Jamie entered the closest hallway.

"Yow!"

"Yow-yow-yow-yow-yow…"

The youngster stood still until he recognized his own voice's echo jumping between the walls. And the reason was pain which pierced his left shoulder. Jamie walked into the lighted area and jerked his left sleeve up to see the burnt track or a print on his shoulder. It was a round seal with two fingerprints on it.

"Whoever brought me here doesn't want me to be unrecognized", Jamie muttered and crept into the depth of the castle, dagger at the ready.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: What do you say? I won't be surprised if it all gets tangled soon. You know those characters - they do it in their own ways... always.  
><strong>


	2. The Aliens

There was not a track of alien technology around, apart from the small round item melted into the flesh of Susan's left shoulder – some kind of a brand: a single fingerprint. Or no, more of an imitation or a standard: this fingerprint didn't belong to anybody. It didn't have enough loops and swirls to be a real one.

Susan wasn't lying on her back, though she thought so at first – she was hanging on the wall, no matter how strange it sounded. As if the wall was the floor, though her senses told her different things… and it was proved as soon as she attempted to sit up: she slid onto the floor, as if from a hillside.

"Must be local gravity", Susan said aloud.

"Susan Foreman. Prepared for the game".

The girl strained her ears, but it was too late. This wasn't any telepathic link, this was more of… more of ear whispering, but from the inside. And the voice was alive. Hidden behind the warper, but alive…

And one more time, but much weaker – perhaps farther:

"Vislor Turlough. Prepared for the game".

Sounded from the left. All right, finding somebody and forming – perhaps – a team won't be a bad idea, no matter what Grandfather says… Susan stood up and walked to the exit out of this huge and completely empty room (this place was much of a medieval castle, though it was too clean to be a genuine one, and it was not of being a too realistic decoration either).

The doorway (that closed behind the girl as soon as she went out) led into the corridor which finished with a huge pit – or it wasn't finished, it was going on, only out of the reach. The ceiling was too high to reach, and the walls were rough, but not enough to hold on them.

Come on, Susan told herself. Think, think… Why did she come here anyway? To find someone, or particularly that very Vislor Turlough… what a familiar name… or no, Susan had never met anybody with such name, but maybe she was to meet its owner sooner… that relative time…

A little rustle made her stop thinking and glance upwards. There was a humanoid creature crawling on the ceiling spider-like. It was covered in bright red fur, and there was a stripe of silver on its back. Susan squinted, slowly walking backwards to the wall closing the way back. Wait a minute. It wasn't the real fur. And it wasn't an animal – she could clearly see the human shadowy figure behind it. A weak perception filter, that's what it should've been.

"Turlough?" Susan asked and made sure she was right: as soon as "it" heard her, the red fur was gone out of sight, and she saw a kid even younger than her staring at her with huge green eyes. "No, no, wait! I won't harm you!"

The kid crawled backwards a bit, frowning. It was as if some serious work was going on under his ginger short hair. He muttered something similar to "liars, liars…" and then spoke aloud:

"Your voice… Susan?"

"Yes, that's my name. And you're Vislor Turlough?"

"Only partly", the kid replied, tension almost gone. "I'm Kyon Vislor Turlough".

I must've missed the first word, Susan thought.

"Can you help me get over this pit?"

"How?"

"If I jump and you catch me, we both can get to the other side".

Kyon rubbed his chin:

"Risky. But interesting… you could tear me off this surface, eh? But we have only one trial, hm?" He crawled to the point approximately over the center of the pit, forcing himself not to look down. "Ready? C'mon, the quicker we do it, the quicker we'll get out of here… or die".

Susan didn't like the thought of dying. And even less she liked the thought of possible regeneration… but she was not worried about herself. The war was enough, and least of all she wanted to become a reason of someone's death.

As it usually happens, there was too much worry for too little action – it was just a quick flight with a rough landing. For both sides.

"That was close", Kyon gasped and chuckled. "But I still don't get two things. One: why did you turn into a human when I called you by the name? You were some kind of a hairy beast before I said it".

"Believe me or not, but so were you", Susan parried. "I saw that you were humanoid at least, but outside…"

"Got it".

"Perception filters. I've heard that there are such things, but we've never explored them properly… Wait, Kyon, what is it?"

The "silver patch" appeared to be a board similar to a skateboard, but without wheels.

"Ah, this? It's my spaceboard", Kyon announced. "It was with me when I woke up here. But it doesn't work here…"

"Anyway, we'd better get out of here".

The kids, hand in hand, started their common way.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's not an accident. Everything in this direction is already planned. Or at least the base. **


	3. The Hackers

"Adric. Prepared for the game".

_No more water for me, please._

That was not because Adric was afraid or not afraid of getting soaking wet. He had woken up underwater and without any source of air, so he had had to swim for his life. Now he was sitting on the shore, shaking his head like a long-eared dog and attempting to squeeze the water out of his clothes. In some minutes there was another disturbance: he coughed, choking on something stuck in his throat, and in some moments there was a pipe-like device in his hand. Ye-es, one of those highly uncomfortable, but reliable gears for breathing underwater. Putting them in the trachea and getting them out wasn't the most pleasant part... and besides, this one seemed broken.

"All kinds of conveniences", Adric said aloud. When scratching in the throat was over, he pushed the gear into his pocket - perhaps, if mended, it could come in handy later - and stood up. Sitting there wouldn't do... In all, this place would be a fine abandoned island if it weren't for at least one thing. The water was wrong. Very wrong indeed - as smooth as blue jelly, though the kid could feel weak breeze all over him, which made him shiver a bit, as it always does when you're just on the ground. And it was such till the horizon. No waves, no bubbles, nothing, like glass surface.

Another out-of-the-row detail was about the rocks sticking out of the water. They formed a perfect circle with its center marked. One, two, three, four... thirteen. Distorted face of a clock, Adric thought.

"Deal with ya later", he said. As soon as the clothing was dry enough, he put it on and walked into the forest surrounding the beach, attempting to memorize the way.

* * *

><p>"Zoe Heriot. Prepared for the game".<p>

"Yes, thank you so much, I am!" Zoe snarled, gasping for air. She had been taught to keep her emotions in, but now she was just about to burst into sobs. No way. No one had taught her how to solve labyrinth puzzles not from the outside. And right now she was in the middle of stone labyrinth, the walls of which were covered with plants. And no sign of technical interference!

Once or twice Zoe decided to use computer language (the destruction code had worked perfectly before this!), but this didn't work. And it looked at least dumb to attempt to use it here. When in Rome...

"Hello!" the girl shouted, keeping the anxiety in, but without seen success. "Hello!"

"Hello?"

This voice was unfamiliar. It was female, but... no, it wasn't that of a Cyberman (for they do not have female voices at all!). Distorted in a "robot" way, but full of hope. At last emotions are a positive thing!

"Who's that?" Zoe asked. The voice replied from behind two or three walls:

"And who are you?"

"My name is Clara Oswald".

"My name is Zoe Heriot".

"Do you know where we could meet?"

"No. I've just found myself here... Are you there?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Oh..."

Not feeling her feet, Zoe moved on, her heart skipping every second beat. Could this be a trap? Could this be...

"Clara!"

"Zoe!"

Strange. Clara's voice lost all the cyber-intonations after this. In a mere moment! Shouting something unintelligible - just to keep the link - Zoe almost ran along the way, turning there and here automatically, until she realized that her possible pal was approaching in a different direction.

"Clara, where are you?"

"Can you climb on the walls?"

"No, they're too high! And I don't have anything to hold on to get onto them!"

Some more endless moments of running, some more square loops and tangles. Finally, after nearly half an hour Zoe spotted a bright red figure among the grey-and-green atmosphere. It revealed to be a dark-topped girl in a red dress.

"Clara?"

"Zoe?"

No anomalies, no Cyber-things. It was more than clear that they were just two girls, now stuck together. At least the feeling of dread was lessened for both.


	4. The Watchers

**From: SWF**

**To: TSOD**

**Theme: The Game Start**

The players are prepared for the games according to the lists. However, the expectations are not approved. The time factor wasn't taken in full measure, this is why there are already several small groups. But they mostly consist of those who are at the bottom of the list.

**Enclosed: List of players**

* * *

><p><em><strong>List of players<strong>_

_Rose Tyler_ !  
><em>Sarah Jane Smith<em>  
><em>Clara Oswald<em>  
><em>Donna Noble<em>  
><em>Jack Harkness<em> !  
><em>Martha Jones<em> !  
><em>Amy Pond<em>  
><em>River Song<em> !  
><em>Jamie McCrimmon<em> !  
><em>Susan Foreman<em>  
><em>Grace Holloway<em>  
><em>Romana<em>  
><em>Leela<em>  
><em>Brigadier<em>  
><em>Rory Williams<em> !  
><em>Mickey Smith<em>  
><em>Ace McShane<em>  
><em>Jo Grant<em>  
><em>Mel Bush<em>  
><em>Zoe Heriot<em>  
><em>Victoria Waterfield<em> ?  
><em>Barbara Wright<em>  
><em>Ian Chesterton<em>  
><em>Nyssa<em> ?  
><em>Vislor Turlough<em> ?  
><em>Polly Wright<em>  
><em>Peri Brown<em>  
><em>Ben Jackson<em> ?  
><em>Dodo Chaplet<em>  
><em>Steven Taylor<em>  
><em>Adric<em> ?  
><em>Vicki<em>

* * *

><p><strong>From: TSOD<br>**

**To: SWF**

**Theme: Intruder**

There is an intruder. Someone used the similarity and got in. Keep an eye out for aliens.

* * *

><p><strong>From: SWF<strong>

**To: TSOD**

**Theme: Can be used**

This can be used as an advantage. Not only Earthlings have feelings towards close ones. Keep him in the game until it gets unnecessary. Then let him know the real conditions.

* * *

><p>Mickey Smith knitted his eyebrows together in concern. He had woken up in... well, this place was a fusion of up-to-date laboratory, computer study and medieval castle: high ceiling, smell of moisture and even moss in the cracks on the stone walls together with wires entangling them and technical devices on huge polished rocks along the walls. Like on some works of especially extravagant (or simply talentless) modern art. Hacking the computer (the only thing that seemed to be from his time) had occurred to be the most sensible thing of all, so he did it. It appeared to be easy. Too easy. Very easy...<p>

Unlike the questions which emerged in Mickey's head after reading those short notes. Some of the names were familiar to him. Rose? Obviously. Martha? No questions. Donna? Yeeeeesssss... Sarah Jane? No doubt. Jack? Oh goodness... But the rest stayed shady for him, no talking about those question and exclamatory marks opposite to several names. And what about these "sides"? SWF, TSOD. Stone Wildlife Fund? Total Sureness Of Destiny? Mickey shook his head to get this out of his head.

Hold on a second. Medieval castles are not usually supported with electricity. Why did this computer work? No sockets, no plugs, nothing. Unlike the rest of the devices, it didn't even had wires, but still worked. And, no matter that Mickey wanted to enter other sites - it did not work. Only several pages opened, and breaking the password on the e-mail one had worked.

And one more. It was clear about "not only Earthlings" (it would be odd if there wasn't at least one non-Earthling here), but what about the "intruder"? Someone who used the similarity and got in... Similarity, similarity... outside similarity, name similarity... There could be lookalikes here. Or one lookalike. Male. "Let him know the real conditions". What real conditions?..

* * *

><p>"Deja vu much?"<p>

"Don't even ask me".

Peri Brown and Vislor Turlough were sitting on a rock in the middle of a deep bay. They were to swim about half a mile till the bank, but they had woken up under the water without any ways to breathe, so they had had to act quickly. Eventually, Turlough had pulled Peri upwards. Just as at the first time.

But there had been something else. Turlough remembered that he had seen... he would've sworn it was some kind of octopus or anything, but it had been gone as soon as there had been a thought about "saving Peri Brown" in his head. How could that EVER be forgotten?.. Earthlings!

Peri was still coughing the salty water out of her respiratory system (not bypass, it would've come in handy), while Turlough was watching the beach towards them, attempting to catch any movement there. If there were savages in that jungle darkening farther... No, it's better not to think what was going to take place. Nobody knows it. Let's see. The tree leaves are green, but they are not of any shape that can be found on Earth. The water... Turlough attentively touched his lips and teeth with his tongue. Salty. Very salty - there were little salt crystals stuck to both youngsters' bodies and clothes (both were dressed in tees and shorts, no shoes on - bad luck). A second-rated Earth fake, if so.

Bang-phoo! Splash!

The girl and the lad didn't know who of them was the first to cling to the other.

"Someone's shooting there", Peri whispered, pointing at the shore.

"I know it without you", Turlough snapped. "Let's get away from here. Sticking here like two Tiki totems would not be wise".

"What are you suggesting?"

"I doubt that shooting us from such distance would be possible... but we still need to get to the shore. Hope you're not afraid of depth. Can you keep you eyes opened underwater?"

"I think I'll be able to".

"Fine..."

The two slid into the water, having made the smallest splash possible, and began their way under the water, swimming up behind huge rocks to catch their breath. It was the only way if they didn't want to be shot - as it occurred to them.


End file.
